“The majority of all internet traffic is file sharing, which is why nothing other than the new IPRED law can explain this major drop in traffic,” Anti-piracy Agency lawyer Henrik Pontén told Metro. “This sends a very strong signal that the legislation works.” Christian Engstrom, vice chairman of the Pirate Party, a group seeking copyright law reform, agreed, but said the decline is likely to be only temporary. Once the public realizes that the odds of being busted for file-sharing are low, Internet traffic will return to normal levels again. “Today, there is a very drastic reduction in internet traffic,” Engstrom told The BBC. “But experience from other countries suggests that while file-sharing drops on the day a law is passed, it starts climbing again. One of the reasons is that it takes people a few weeks to figure out how to change their security settings so that can share files anonymously. We estimate there are two million file-sharing [computers] in Sweden, so even if they prosecuted a 1,000 people to make an example of them, for an individual user it is still a very small risk.”

[Image credit: Chart courtesy Royal Pingdom]

I am utterly fascinated with the iPhone. Dying to get one. I’ve been a Verizon Wireless person for 15 years and have never had a coverage problem in the metro Boston area. I don’t hear great things about AT&T’s 3G. Do you think it’s worth the switch?

While I believe the iPhone is a marvelous device, I have always advised that nobody should get any phone unless it is on a network that they are sure works to their satisfaction in the areas where they will use it. Personally, I find AT&T’s network adequate where I use it, and getting better, so I am happy with my iPhone. But there are many others who have either given up their iPhones out of frustration with AT&T, or who have decided against buying one because they prefer another carrier, or want to avoid AT&T.

So, my advice is to ask friends around Boston who have iPhones or other AT&T 3G devices how they feel about the network. You might also enter your ZIP Code at some Web sites that track overall carrier coverage and dead zones, like cellreception.com, or deadcellzones.com.

If this research suggests you should avoid AT&T, but you are still “dying” for an iPhone, you might consider the iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the cellphone inside. It lacks the iPhone’s camera, GPS and built-in microphone, but it does connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi and runs the vast majority of iPhone apps. It doesn’t carry any monthly fee or require a carrier contract.

How do I forward an email from Gmail? I don’t see any icon for forwarding messages like I do on other email programs.

Gmail hides a bunch of menu choices under the Reply icon in the upper-right-hand corner of open emails. If you click on the small downward arrow next to the Reply icon, you will see more actions you can take on the message, including Forward, Reply to All, Print and others.

I read your recent article on IE8 and installed it on my desktop. I did not notice in your article any mention of IE8 slowing the computer down significantly, but it has had this effect on my PC. Why didn’t you mention it? Can I uninstall IE8 and return to the prior version?

I didn’t mention the problem you are having because I never observed that Internet Explorer 8 caused any general slowdown of any of the multiple Windows PCs on which I tested it. I did warn that IE8 itself grew sluggish when it had a large number of Web sites open simultaneously in tabs, but, in my tests, even that didn’t slow down the whole computer.

However, you can indeed uninstall IE8 and return to the previous version. Microsoft has provided complete instructions, and even an automated uninstall program, at: support.microsoft.com/kb/957700.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

How much does BoomTown love the Friday weekly memos that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz sends out to the troops?

Very, very much since they are so full of significant news–a slowdown of Yahoo’s homepage redesign and a major limiting of the global rollout of its new advertising platform, APT, to name a few.

But they also have a weird but compelling kind of energy that nearly jumps off the page, giving clear insight into how Bartz thinks and operates.

Like the Energizer Bunny, I would say.

Here are two memos Bartz sent out to Yahoo (YHOO) staff, one from today and one from last week on Feb. 13, both of which discuss just how busy she is keeping herself.

This past week, for example, Bartz spent the weekend with advertisers and partners at the AT&T golf tournament in Pebble Beach, after which she threw some serious love in the direction of U.S. sales head Joanne Bradford and gave the advertising minions under her an A+.

Bartz also cheerily admits with a “whatever” that a “Brand Pride Memo,” which a Yahoo marketing exec asked her to rename in case it leaked–oops!–from last week (see below), was still a list of Yahoo embarrassments.

And she is headed to Europe in April, followed by Asia TBD, although this weekend, a husband-free Bartz is catching up on chick flicks–might I suggest, “He’s Just Not That Into You”–and resting up for the “big week” ahead.

That’s Bartz’s coy term for her massive reorganization of management, which is slated, many sources tell me, to be announced Wednesday. (See my post on that here.)

Last week, was much more newsworthy, as Bartz did a lot of business unit and product reviews–reportedly scaring the bejeesus out of staff who had to present–because, she said, they had not been done in a dog’s age at Yahoo.

Stressing a “need for speed” in the decision-making process at Yahoo and a “WOW” experience for users, Bartz seems to be whirling through Yahoo like Mr. Clean’s white tornado.

As BoomTown reported this week (correctly, Tapan!), for example, Metro–the Yahoo homepage redo–was delayed by her “until we feel it will be a great product for our users.”

Bartz then said she had decreed that ads were to be taken out of mail products in emerging markets, which will mean a drop in revenue (probably minuscule), but make for a better customer experience.

Most significantly, she also limited the global rollout of APT, Yahoo’s new advertising system, which was much touted by previous Yahoo management, to just the U.S. and one other country in order to “perfect” it.

This is a polite way of saying it is buggier than an Amazon jungle.

And, my favorite and hers: Bartz wrote that “we are assembling a list of products that we are embarrassed about for various reasons so we can make the important decision as to whether we fix them or discontinue them.”

Speaking of curdling, and to keep up the kooky quotient, Bartz also thanked Texas Yahoos for something called “Purple Cowboy wine,” as well as employees in Oshkosh, Wis., for cheese curds.

Then, it was off to make Valentines with her ubiquitous assistant, Judy Flores, after which she was set to do some major kissing up to ad customers at that golf tournament (not her strong suit, apparently, as it had been former Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang’s).

But, experience the full-Carol yourself in the two entire memos below:

February 20:

My week started last Friday down at the AT&T golf tournament where we hosted many of our important U.S. customers and partners. I thought I’d use this week’s note to give you some impressions:

First, I really want to congratulate Joanne Bradford’s team for hosting and running a first-class event. I know many of you in the company have absolutely no idea what happens in our regions or what salespeople do for a living (in fact, my past history has shown me that the way most engineers perceive salespeople is as lightweight, backslapping meeters and greeters). In fact, I’m delighted to report that Yahoo! has an A+ sales team. I watched them in action with customers such as Pepsi–it was clear they had the respect and trust of the customer and represented all of us Yahoos very well. It was very interesting to learn how creative our salespeople are in helping our clients devise interesting and profitable campaigns. I received a lot of compliments about how well-supported these customers and partners felt. Likewise, it was very clear to me that they support Yahoo! in return and very much want us to succeed.

Hey, that doesn’t mean they think we’re perfect! They had several ideas about our products and how we could do better, especially in this tough economic environment. This plays right into our focus on excellence and great products.

Last week I told you we were going to have our first pass at deciding which products embarrass us as a company. Kudos to Allen Olivo and his team for worrying that one of you might leak my email, so instead he called it the “Brand Pride List.” Whatever, the point is still important and we had a great discussion on which products to stop and which to make a lot better. More to follow…

I realize this is a very U.S.-centric message but that’s because I spent three days with U.S. customers. Just wait until I blow through Europe in April–I’ll be sharing all sorts of European goodies with you! And yes, I am going to Asia as well–we just haven’t settled on the date yet.

My husband is out of town this weekend, so I’m looking forward to watching all the “chick flicks” that he refuses to watch with me. I hope you all have a fun weekend. Get well-rested, because next week’s a biggie. :)

Carol

February 13:

A great illustration of my need for speed.

Had a big staff meeting this week. We spent all day Monday and Tuesday reviewing our strategies and major products on both the audience and advertising sides. It was a great introduction for me and even an eye-opener for the entire team when they realized that many of these strategies and products hadn’t been delved into in a long time (a big thanks to all the presenters who worked so hard):

· We talked a lot about the importance of having a WOW experience for all of our users around the world. As an example, we are delaying the launch of Metro until we feel it will be a great product for our users.

· Similarly, we discovered that we are losing mail share to the competition in many slower-bandwidth, emerging markets so we have made a decision to remove mail ads in those countries to improve the user experience. This will mean a drop in revenue for us but it’s the right thing to do strategically.

· We have also decided to “perfect” APT! in the US and only one international market before we roll it out globally.

· And finally, my favorite–we are assembling a list of products that we are embarrassed about for various reasons so we can make the important decision as to whether we fix them or discontinue them.

What does this have to do with the need for speed? Many of the things I just talked about could have and should have been decided earlier but we haven’t been an organization that has embraced the need for speedy decisions, even when they are the tough ones. We can all be part of changing this and getting back to an organization that is fast on its feet.

On a personal note, thanks to Team Texas Sales for the Purple Cowboy wine and the Care Center Service Desk in Oshkosh for the Wisconsin bag of goodies–my favorite were the cheese curds!

Judy and I went to URLs today and made Valentine’s for our sweeties–everybody remember yours so we can all have a big Yahoo! Valentine’s Day. I’m off to Pebble Beach tomorrow to meet, entertain and play golf with some of our biggest customers. Actually, it’s a great strategy because normally you have to “let” the customer win–fortunately, this is not a problem for me!

Carol

Late last night, Yahoo’s Tapan Bhat (pictured here) posted an update on the ongoing redesign of the Internet giant’s homepage, a massive undertaking given that 300 million people visit it each month.

Bhat, who is SVP of Yahoo’s Front Doors, Communities and Network Services, said the company was completing the first phase of its “bucket testing” and collecting feedback, but that, “Bottom line is we’re getting closer to the final design, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Indeed not, according to several sources at Yahoo (YHOO), who said that the massive underhaul of the homepage has been a much more complex, much dicier effort and was taking a lot longer than expected to launch.

(You can see examples of the redesign and also Bhat’s post last night on Yahoo’s corporate blog, Yodel Anecdotal, below.)

When the redesign–which is called “Metro” internally–was announced last September, Bhat said the changes would initially impact less than one percent of worldwide users in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and India.

But he also said they would then be rolled out to a wider and wider circle over the next six months. That has not happened, obviously.

Why? One key reason: Some results in limited testing showing actual declines in traffic, both from pointing outward more and also having people stay on the homepage with beefed-up “one-click” features.

The biggest issue is openness, which is aggressive in the new design, especially for Yahoo.

But it is a move pushed strongly by former CEO Jerry Yang. The idea is that Yahoo was a “starting point” for consumers was one of his key strategies.

That includes adding in lots of widget-like applications, or apps, onto the homepage from outside partners, and many more links to sites all over the Web.

“We’re pointing people off Yahoo and they are going,” said one exec about Yahoo’s first massive redesign since 2006. “While being open is a good thing, it also means less traffic inside Yahoo.”

Said another: “A lot of us want it to point more to great Yahoo services we offer instead of giving everyone else the benefit of our size.”

And the results so far, several sources said, have definitely caught the attention of new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who some say might be considering slowing the wider rollout of the new homepage that insiders said was expected to be well on its way by spring.

Delay is, of course, common in massive projects like this, especially in this case, since the Yahoo homepage is a powerful “firehose” all over Yahoo and the Web.

When I contacted Bhat earlier this week to ask about the status of the homepage redesign, he would not comment about when it would roll out widely or about results of the testing, or give me access to the redesigned pages.

But he did kindly offer to walk me through the progress so far, next week at Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale.

Then an update from Bhat suddenly appeared last night, in which he outlined that positive and negative feedback from that small number of Yahoo customers who have been using the new homepage.

Apparently, testers love the streamlined look and feel and the apps, and prefer the new page over the current one.

They also want even more apps, though, and think Yahoo should nix the darker color, as well as give easier access to mail and other services.

One assumes that is just a tiny bit of the feedback, especially given how dramatic the changes are.

In a post last fall when the redesign was announced by Bhat, I wrote that Yahoo was “employing a design that more significantly allows users to customize the starting page in a way that essentially amounts to a kind of My Yahoo-lite for everyone.”

That meant the ability to get to information and services more quickly, with links to outside email providers, initially from Google (GOOG) and Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL.

The test design also includes a prominent left-hand vertical bar, with applications from both Yahoo properties and third-party services like eBay (EBAY), which are easy to add and remove.

Eventually, Bhat said at the time, there would be thousands of apps, from Yahoo and also from outside developers.

“People want broadcast and narrowcast at the same time,” said Bhat then. “They want choices, but they also don’t want to do the work involved [in programming their own homepage].”

Noting that it was not the dashboard approach of My Yahoo or iGoogle, Bhat added at the time: “People are time-starved…so it is important to the user to get to their relevant daily information as quickly as possible without having to click around.”

But, said several sources at Yahoo who have seen the Metro results so far, by giving them more options, especially outside ones, clicking around is precisely what users do.

More next week when I visit with Bhat…

Until then, here is a screenshot Bhat posted of the latest look for Metro last night, and below it are several screenshots of the initial Yahoo redesign, as well as Yahoo’s current homepage (click on the images to make them larger).

In addition, Bhat’s whole post last night about Metro’s progress is at the very bottom.

This is the latest iteration of the homepage redesign:

This is the homepage that was rolled out in September 2007:

This is a homepage rolled out in September 2007 that includes more outside apps:

This is the homepage rolled out in September 2007 that shows how email from Yahoo and Google and AOL would look:

This is a screenshot of Yahoo’s current home page:

And here is the full text of the Bhat post from last night, below.

Update on our new homepage testing

Tapan Bhat
Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Front Doors, Communities and Network Services

The move will cost 16 employees their jobs, says John Paton, CEO of Impremedia, the publisher that owns Hoy and several other Spanish-language titles, including El Diario La Prensa in New York and La Opinión in Los Angeles.

Hoy joins a handful of other pubs that are cutting back on print or ditching it altogether–most recently, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News announced they would limit home delivery of the print edition to three days a week–but I wouldn’t go overboard reading too much into this one. That’s because the free distribution strategy that Hoy employed has been an experiment from the get-go.

That said, New York still boasts two free print dailies: Metro, published by Sweden-based Metro International SA, and AM New York, published by Cablevision (CVC), which bought it along with Newsday from the troubled Tribune Co. (TXA), which sold Hoy to Impremedia last year. Both target the elusive and wily young, affluent, nonnewspaper-reading demo.